Here’s What Mercury Looks Like

NASA released what are being described as the first images of Mercury from a spacecraft in its orbit and surprise: The hellish planet located closest to the Sun looks a lot like the Moon. Which makes sense, since like the lunar body, Mercury has no real atmosphere, making it quite vulnerable to comets and asteroids. It also explains why the planet can’t retain heat, so even though surface temperatures can reach 430 °C when facing the sun like a scene out of The Chronicles of Riddick, it’s still possible for the dark side of Mercury to dip to a chilling -163 °C.